Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Cocoon—A Traveling Space | Dobers and Strannegård | JD Pirtle

The Cocoon initially strikes me as a relatively uninteresting project, but the discourse about it’s varying functions and implications takes on a fascinating form as this text unfolds. The section about space and time is a bit nebulous--some of the strongest concepts come when they relate these notions to architecture. The very fact that there might be some need for a proxy for disconnection, that we would need a physical object to remove ourselves from the terrors of an information society is very intriguing. I wonder how effective it is at escaping this world? If anything, The Cocoon’s power comes through the fact that it highlights and defines the state of psychosis in developed, technocratic societies. The authors mention how stressed we all are, but are we any more stressed than 100 years ago? We don’t choose to unplug. We like our social networking, our inter-connectedness. The Cocoon shows that people are unable to choose moderation in respect to technology and social interaction anymore than food, alcohol, sex, etc. That is the true power of the piece.

I found myself thinking of various forms of meditation, found on almost every continent. Why is a physical object needed to instigate a meditative state? The Cocoon is evidence that we now require a device, a proxy or an application with which to interface with to achieve what was always possible (think Wizard of Oz). The impact of this piece is truly in its commentary of Western society. Perhaps we can use our technocracy to find a middle ground, a moderation between the stressful space we have created and all other types of space?